Who: Dr. Jim Berger

Professor, Department of Zoology, UBC

If anyone knows the secret of teaching – both with and without technology – it is Dr. Jim Berger, a Zoology professor at UBC.

Jim started teaching Biology 200, a second year biology course, in 1970 at UBC, except for a 14 year break, but there have been some major changes to the course over the last 20 years.

In 2000-01 Jim switched from traditional lecture format to the current format, which is a blended delivery model which includes in-person class time and an online component.

How It Works

In-Class and Online Through Mixed-Mode Delivery

In Jim’s case, he redesigned the course to use a combination of in-person class time and an online component. The in-person time divided into two parts: Jim lectures fifty per cent of the time and the other half is workshop time, where students work together in groups on problem solving.

Jim posts all the course materials online, including lecture notes and learning objectives, so students know exactly what they are responsible for each week. He asks them to read the lecture notes before the lecture and be prepared when they come to class. During the workshop, students are able to work through problems, practice skills such as how to read data, make inferences and draw conclusions.

The mixed-mode format gives Jim time to work with students on problem solving in class and encourage them to develop analytical skills, rather than simply memorize information from the lectures and the textbook.

Clickable Images & Animations Demonstrate Abstract Concepts

In his teaching, Jim asks students to analyze a variety of graphic material, such as images of microscopic cells and experiments. He created a series of animated still images and short animations to illustrate key concepts and elements of the data. Arrows, pointers and brief lines of text are overlaid on the images and appear with a click of the mouse. He also includes several short animations to illustrate complicated processes much more effectively than lengthy explanations or descriptions.

“I try to break more complicated problems down into smaller chunks and create web-based materials that allow people to figure things out,” said Jim. “I could have used overheads, for the images, but this seemed like a better medium.”

Online Discussion Board: Students Learn By Posting and Answering Questions

Instead of posting answers online for students to memorize, Jim asks his students to visit the online discussion board to post their question, and explain what they think the answer is and why. He responds to questions, and other students are encouraged to do so as well. Jim said that one of the benefits is that students learn by explaining things to each other and participating in the discussion to solve the problem. With 1,500 students in the course, which is divided into five sections and taught with five instructors, this also enables students with similar questions to see other people’s responses.

Impact on Teaching and Learning

Less Student Panic: Access Course Material Any Time, From Any Place

When Jim began to integrate more problem-based learning techniques in the course, he needed a way for students to access course materials on their own time, as often as they wanted. He says this makes it easier for students who are struggling to grasp material in lectures.

“Students don’t panic when they realize that if they didn’t get it in class the first time,” said Jim. “They can go back to the course web site as often as they want and they can work on it as long as they want.”

He also needed a digital medium for the animations and clickable images. Teaching online became an excellent way to present different kinds of graphic materials to a large group in class, and also for people to go back to on their own.

Accommodate Different Learning Styles

The mixed-mode format provides multiple entry points and learning strategies for students. Some attend all the lectures, workshops and do all the online work, and these students are the most successful. Jim said the online component is a very important part of the course, but some students treat it solely as an online course and don’t attend the in-class meetings. Others rely on the lectures and textbook. Many students don’t learn well in the lecture format, but others need the structure that it provides to make connections.

“People learn in different ways and you can accommodate a wide range of learning styles and students can try different strategies to see what works,” said Jim. “When I moved from 100 % lectures to 50% lectures, the average grade in the class went up by 7.5 %. And the grade distribution changed. It was clearly successful. This format doesn’t work all the students, but it’s worked for a lot of people that were struggling before.”

Jim’s Advice for Teaching with Technology

Time: There is a significant time commitment and learning curve required for teaching with technology, and these can be psychological barriers for people who are new to teaching with technology. But good teaching takes time, whether you’re using technology or not.

Secret of Success: “The secret is you don’t have to do it all at once,” Jim said.

Integrating technology with teaching is a gradual process, whether you’re creating a new course or re-vamping one you’ve already developed. For Jim, the best way is to start where you are, with the materials you have and build up your course over a number of years. Posting your existing lecture materials online is a good starting point. Ask students to read up on lecture material and come to class knowing this material – it becomes their responsibility. Then you can spend more time focusing on solving problems and conceptual learning. You’ll need time to create the materials for problem-based work and exercises. Do it little by little.

Save Time for Questions: Jim also said to be prepared to spend a lot of time answering questions from students. However, the discussion board is great for this: instead of answering the same questions twenty times by email, you can answer it once and all the students have access to the information.

“You will be able to spend time answering these questions online because the traffic to your office decreases dramatically,” Jim said. “Now I only have people coming by my office to ask questions about their mid-term, which is what they should be doing, and the rest takes place online.”

Change is Good: “Changing from lectures to a format that is more problem-based made a big difference in the first year I did it.”

Resources – How to Get Started:

WebCT for Instructors:
This central information page is a good starting point to finding out about information and resources you’ll need.

Getting Started:
This page provides the basics on practical, step by step information on how to request a cources, get access, and more.

Training & Workshops:
The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) offers many workshops and training sessions on using WebCT, from beginner to more advanced levels. Visit http://events.ctlt.ubc.ca/ to see what workshops are coming up.